At the End of the Day
by unknown229
Summary: During the battle of A Thousand Heartless, Leon finds himself in some near fatal trouble. But with a burst of flames comes the most unexpected saviour. Rated M for mild language.


Faint black shadows slowly became thicker and thicker until the small heartless' slowly rose from the ground; only to get cut down one after the other by the metal gun-blade. Another sound behind him made Leon spin, blade whipping out to take down a white nobody. Without even a second to breath, Leon could feel the presence of more heartless and more nobodies beginning to surround him. Leon let his blade rest on the ground, air rushing into his starved lungs with quick pants. He had been fighting for hours, and still there didn't seem to be an end in sight. As the enemy began to get closer, Leon slowly moved back, still gasping for breath. As Leon's back hit the cliffside his enemy, both nobodies and heartless formed into a semi-circle around him, ranks becoming thicker and thicker.

He looked around to see if any of his allies were in the vicinity, not that he would ask them for help… But they might have come of their own accord. His search proving futile, he refocussed his attention on the enemy that was closing in on him. A red light shone on his chest, and he had just enough time to move, so that the arrow of light missed his chest, instead cutting through his shoulder. Unfortunately, the bolt of light managed to hit a nerve ending in his shoulder, and the gunblade fell from his numb fingers. His other hand darted out to catch it, but it was stolen away by a Dusk. Now Leon was weapon less and caught between a _big _rock and a lot of enemies. The heartless leapt forward, eager to taste his heart and Leon raised his good arm, hoping to at least fight some of them off. He was reaching out to knock away his closest attacker, when without warning, a massive wall of fire rose between him and the enemy, incinerating the heartless Leon had been aiming for. Leon flinched back, the intense heat of the flickering flames scorching his arm. Smoke was rising from his glove and the tips of his fingers had mild burns on them. Leon couldn't hear anything over the roar of the flames, but could _feel_ the movement on the other side of the inferno.

Leon stayed pressed against the wall, left hand tightly holding the hole in his right shoulder, trying to make his fingers move. Suddenly, Leon heard a loud shout over blare of the fire and the wall that surrounded him suddenly burst forward with immense force and velocity. Leon could see the fire sweep over a tall figure in black; large, circular and spiked weapons spinning in their hands. The figures arms were pressed out to the side and fire exploded from around their body. The intensity of the flash of light that followed burnt his eyes in the short time he left them uncovered, throwing his arm over his eyes. From behind closed lids and his arm, he could see the light slowly starting to fade, and when it was gone completely he finally opened his eyes.

Immediately in front of him was his gunblade, held in a loose grip by long, black clad fingers. He quickly reached for the sword, eyes flicked up and over towards the owner of the fingers. When his eyes rested upon the black cloak, Leon's sword instantly flicked to the Nobody's uncovered throat. The Nobody in front of him made no attempt to move the gunblade, merely lifted his hands in the surrender position. Leon carefully studied the features before him.  
The first thing that caught his eyes was the bright red hair, standing up and out in big spikes. Next was the intensity of the green in his eyes. They gleamed, as if they were emeralds, being shined upon by a bright light. And finally the rest of the features sunk in. The pale skin, the straight nose and the small tattoos beneath the eyes.

"Who are you?" Leon questioned, blade pressing lightly into the skin on the Nobody's neck. The Nobody grinned.

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" He asked cockily, one of the raised hands pressing a finger to his temple. Leon remained silent to the obviously rhetorical question, quietly assessing the probability of threat from the Nobody - Axel.

"Why did you help me?" He asked, slightly lightening the pressure against Axel's neck as a small dribble of blood began to run down his neck, becoming hidden in the black cloak. Axel continued to grin at Leon.

"I dunno. Seemed like fun, and I reckon, if I'm gonna betray the Organization…" He paused, his grin turning into a smirk; "I may as well do it properly." He finished. Without delay, Leon's thoughts began to race at rocket speed.

"Betray the Organisation?"  
Axel nodded.

"Yup," he replied shortly.  
Leon narrowed his eyes.

"Why? Why would you betray your Organization?"  
Axel's grin remained fixed on his face, but something in his gaze flickered.

"… Their current direction is _not_ the direction I wish to be going… To put it simply," the red-head replied. His emerald eyes flicked down to the blade against his throat. "Gonna move that anytime soon?"  
Leon analysed Axel for a few more seconds, before slowly moving the blade away. It was however, still at the ready in his hand. Leon watching Axel cautiously for a few more seconds before turning away and walking along the cliff face. Axel watched, dumbfounded for a moment, before jogging to catch up to the leaving warrior.

"What, that's it? I saved your _life_," Axel said, putting emphasise of the life; "And all I get in return is a questioning and… and nothing?!" Leon continued walking, ignoring the displeased nobody. "Hey, come on! Can you at least let me no your name?"

"No," Leon responded curtly. Axel frowned.

"That's not very nice…" He muttered begrudgingly.

"You're a Nobody. You don't have a heart _or_ emotions. I don't _need _to be nice." Axel stopped in his tracks, a strange expression crossing his face.

"…Yeah… I guess not…" There was a deep sadness in his voice that by rights, shouldn't be there. It was this that caused Leon to stop and turn around. He was surprised by the expression on the Nobody's face. Axel was looking at the ground, his countenance a mixture of sadness, and pain. Also as if he was trying to remember something from a long time ago. Strangely enough, seeing that expression on the Nobody's face mildly agitated Leon at the wrongness of it.

"Leon," he said. Axel's head shot up and mild, near child-like confusion shone in his eyes. Leon coughed uncomfortably. "My name," he expanded. Surprise shone on Axel's face for a moment, before the usual smirk was back on his face.

"I see…" Axel declared. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the appearance of more heartless and nobodies. Both Axel and Leon got into fighting positions, Leon aiming the gunblade and Axel gently spinning his own weapons.

One of the Dusks leapt forward, disintegrating when Leon fired the gunblade at it. Another followed in its wake, only to end with the same fate. At the same time, the heartless darted forwards towards Axel who grinned at them.

"Burn baby!" He yelled with glee as the area surrounding him burst in the flames, eradicating the shadows. A heartless popped up behind Leon and leapt at his unsuspecting back. It was quickly killed as Axel threw one of his Chakrams, the weapon quickly returning to its owner. Leon scowled as his injured shoulder twinged, causing him to only clip the nobody that was jumping at him.

"Oi!" Axel shouted, sending a massive burst of fire at the being. It flipped back, away from Leon and narrowly dodging the blaze. The ball of fire hit the cliff face with a massive explosion, sending Leon flying forward and crashing into Axel. Both of them fell to the ground, Leon on top of Axel as the entire rock wall began to crumble.

"Uh-oh…" Axel muttered quietly as rocks began to fall around them. He swapped places with Leon, rolling on top of him, and covered the warrior with his body.

Leon looked up in shock as massive rocks and boulders began to fall on top of them. A small rock was heading straight for his face, but was interrupted as Axel placed his own head above Leon's. The rock hit his head with a loud thunk and a crack. Axel winced slightly.

"_Ow!"_ He said accusingly, as if the rock had done it on purpose. However, Leon realised that it was only for his benefit, when he saw much larger and sharper rocks landing on Axel's body. When those hit, the Nobody didn't make a sound. A loud crack echoed in Leon's ears, and he felt Axel's body tense above his. Out of the corner of his eye he saw darkness beginning to form and swirl around them; and suddenly they were falling through a rip through space. Through the rapidly closing tear, he could see a massive boulder that would have crushed them both, land exactly where they had been lying before. As soon as the tear completely closed, Leon felt solid ground under his back again. Not exactly solid, he realised as he felt the sand sink a little with his and Axel's weight, but solid enough to mean land. Leon soon began to feel the strain of having a tall and fully grown man lying on top of him and he tried to shift the Nobody off him.

"Move," he commanded. When the body on top of his failed to do so, he got slightly concerned.

"Axel?" He questioned again. A low grunt met his question, and concern changed to agitation. "Can you move?" Another grunt, but this time the body on top of his rolled to the side. Bright light that had been covered by the man on top of him before, was now glaring right into his eyes.

"Where are we?" The warrior asked, slowly sitting up and looking around. They were on a beach with wooden structures everywhere.

"Destiny Islands," came the muffled reply. Leon looked over to the red-head in surprise.

"Sora's home?" He questioned, before freezing as he caught sight of the man next to him. Blood was slowly spreading out in the sand beneath him, his expression was pained, eyes closed and he was currently biting his fist.

"Uhuh," Axel replied softly. Leon sat up properly and moved to the injured man.

"Hey, you okay?" Axel slowly opened his eyes.

"I think I got hit by a few pebbles," he said with a grin. Leon scowled and climbed shakily to his feet. His shoulder would had stopped bleeding, but it still ached uncomfortable. Ignoring the throbbing, he bent down and carefully wrapped the other man's arm around his shoulder, pulling him upwards. He ignored the quick hiss that left the pyro's lips and wrapped his injured arm around the man's waist. This time Axel full on groaned.

"Shit that hurt," he said, head hanging limply. Leon grunted.

"Can you put any weight on your feet?" Leon questioned with another grunt, barely holding the taller man up. Axel was still for a few more moments, before there was some slight movement of his lower body. His feet no longer dragged on the sand, and it actually looked like he was walking, even though nearly all of his body weight was on the warrior supporting him. Leon half dragged, half carried the Nobody up the beach and towards a small pool with a waterfall running into it. He let Axel rest against a tree and let his sword fall into some thick grass. Leon crouched down next to Axel whose pale face looked even whiter.

"How are you feeling?" Leon asked softly.

"…Fine…" Axel lied with a grin. Leon sighed and reached for the Nobodies zipper. Axel slapped his hands away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Axel complained. Leon just stared at him. "Oh fine…" Axel grumbled, giving the other man access to his coat. Leon zipped it down and pushed it off Axel's pale shoulder. On his front, there was evidence of more than one broken rib, bruises everywhere and in some places blood was running in a steady rhythm.

"Turn around," Leon ordered. For once, Axel obeyed an order without complaint or questioning. His back was far worse. The entire surface of his back was mottled blue, black and purple and thick gashes covered the patterned skin. Leon was quiet for a moment.

"We need to wash your back," He then said. Axel looked at the warrior over his shoulder.

"It's fine. I'm a Nobody, it'll heal in no time." Leon looked at him sceptically. He frowned as Axel pulled his coat back up and zipped it up.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked.

"What does it look like?" Axel asked in return with his typical shit-eating grin.

"You shouldn't answer a question with another question." Leon murmured unconsciously, leaning down the grab his sword.

"You have a battle to get back to. I need to go help… someone. Let's go," Axel said in the most serious voice Leon had heard from the red-head yet. Axel waved a hand and with a hollow tearing sound a black hole opened up in front of them.

"Go. That will take you near where we were before." Leon headed towards the hole, but before entering looked back over his shoulder.

"… Thanks," he said quietly before vanishing in the void. Axel grinned as the portal closed.

"Ha-ha! He said thanks!" His expression sobered as the hole closed. He gritted his teeth as the intense pain in his back became worse. With another wave of his hand, another rip in space opened up in front of him.

He walked through, coming out near a cliff in full view of Hollow Bastion. Sora and his two friends were in front of him staring at Xemnas' rapidly closing portal. Axel took a deep breath and wiped the pain of his face.

"Way to fall right into their trap," He said mockingly, watching as the trio slowly turned around to see him leaning against the wall. The three ran towards him, weapons in hand. Axel painstakingly pushed of the wall and unfolded his arms.

"C'mon, it's a set-up by Organization XIII." He continued, walking towards them. "Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless-that's his big master plan." He gave the information with as close as someone without emotions could get to feeling satisfaction.

"Xemnas?" The duck before him asked. Axel could have hit him.

"The guys you just saw," Axel answered, gesturing to where Xemnas had been before. "He's their leader. Got it memorized?" His catchphrase made its way in automatically and his hand went to his temple.

"X-E-M, N-A-S." He spelt out for them mockingly. He watched as they slowly began to let down their guard.

"Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?" The dog asked. Axel felt a headache beginning to join the agony in his back.

"Man, you're slow…" Axel said waving a hand, as to dismiss the dog. He pointed down to the Keyblade in Sora's hand.

"Every Heartless slain with that Keyblade releases a captive heart. That is what the Organization is after." He explained.

"So what are those guys gonna do with the hearts?" The duck asked. Axel grinned at him.

"I'm not telling," he said.

"Tell us!" Ordered the duck. Before Axel could respond, Sora interrupted.

"You… you're the one who kidnapped Kairi!" He said, voice sounding rather sad. Axel felt somewhat jealous. He missed feeling sad. He missed a lot of things…Mainly emotions. Axel gave an inward sigh, mind gravitating towards Leon for a moment. Why did he save Leon? He remembers feeling…something inside himself and then he just started helping. Axel inwardly sighed again. It doesn't matter. He saved the dude's life… And who knows… maybe he _will_ get his emotions back one day… But at the end of the day, he's still a Nobody without a heart. Axel smiled somewhat bitterly.

"Bingo. The names Axel. Got it memorized?

* * *

Ah... So that was some random thing that had been in my head hahaha. Any other writers out there will know what I'm talking about when I ssay that at any given moment, there's always stories going around in your head. There are fanfics and originals just spinning around in there until you can get it out. I swear, I've had this one original story in my head for years now and I still remember every single detail perfectly since I thought it up. Usually if it's just a short story or a one shot I can just write it down and get it out of the way, but some of the longer ones that have been there for ages never really go away, even if I do write them down. So yeah, that's why I wrote this one. I realise that the ending kinda has nothing to do with the rest... But meh. I just wrote this to get it out of my head and stop distracting me from my other stories. If anyone has any suggestions/complaints/comments or anything just gimme a review :)

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading :) There's another Axel story on my profile if you're interested :D I really do hope you liked/enjoyed my story so please, if you're feeling kind and loving ;) *wink wink* favourite and review. I love to know more tips on how to be a better writer. Hope to hear from you :D

Sincerely,

Sam (Unknown229)


End file.
